We are bombarded with stories about war, famine, crime, climate disaster, social unrest, disease, lack of civility, and political divisiveness – delivered ad infinitum via Tik Tok, Instagram, X, Facebook, and other social media. It turns out that doom scrolling is not good for one’s mental health and well-being. Not only that, money, power, fame, stuff, and more stuff can’t buy happiness (beyond a minimum threshold, of course). Just look at Elon, Jeff, Mark, and Donald.
So, what can make us happy? Friends, family, faith -- and wait for it -- work. Work can be a happy place when there is an intentional culture promoting mental health and well-being. What does it take? Psychosocially instilling positive emotions, creating “flow,” highlighting organizational support, building bonding relationships, and communicating a sense of purpose. Add fun, and work becomes a fulfilling life experience, and of course, a way to pay bills.
This session will not just wax poetic. It will present findings from recent studies and literature reviews uncovering the sources and impacts of toxic work environments that cause distress and burnout. On the bright side, it will also offer solutions that extend beyond telling employees to “grin and bear it.” The session will build upon traditional psychosocial interventions aimed at enhancing resilience by introducing organizational and environmental stressors and solutions to improve the workplace. The session will recall a case study of protective factors shown to be effective in ameliorating stressors experienced by front-line hospital food service workers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learning Objectives
After completing this session, participants will be able to:
1. Articulate factors causing stress in the workplace arising from psychosocial, organizational, and environmental (POE) sources.
2. Describe possible solutions to workplace distress by drawing from solutions unearthed in recent literature reviews on the topic of mental health and well-being in the workplace.
3. Explain how an Assessment, Planning, Intervention, Evaluation (APIE) model can be applied in workplace settings to support a culture of health and well-being. 1 ADV CECH Available